Dead Meat
by kade32
Summary: Taking place in the supernatural world beyond the humans, the offspring of various monsters, ghosts and creatures of the nights are summoned where they can not only be safe from the humans, but also blend in with them. The gateway into the realm known as the "Nether Regions" is located underneath any archway in Central Park of New York City.
1. Long Ago

**Disclaimer: Everything in this story is all mine. Now this is meant as a redemption for an old story of mine called Peregrine Academy. I admit, that story was too flawed and choppy with no concrete storyline and it just wasn't perfect. Well, I'll be sure to fix that mistake with this one. I've taken some inspiration from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in such a way.**

* * *

_**Kakunodate, Akita Prefecture, Japan**_  
**_The Edo Period_**  
**_February 28, c. 1667_**

Snow fell down upon the small samurai village among the dark night, showering it in a pure, white blanket. This very night wasn't like any other night before. Because for on this very night, a horrific pestilence plagues one such samurai and his family in their peaceful little house, disturbing their peace and threatening their livelihood. There sat their cozy little home away from the likes of the village below where the blood-red marks of hands and smears could be seen on the walls from inside, making their way across the hallways. Danger lurks within these walls, death awaiting to ensnare its fresh new victims.

Then some blood-curdling screams filled the air along with the sounds of items being knocked around. The man outside, who was a samurai himself, overheard the screams coming inside the house while freezing from the bitter cold. He instinctively darted inside of the house and when he did, the air on the inside was even worse than it was outside. The sub-zero temperatures dropped intensively, the icy chills, bitting at his skin, despite wearing protective clothing. As the man shuddered from the arctic conditions, his breathe creating a mist as he shook and convulsed, trying to get warmth as best he could, that's when he discovered the dead-giveaway bloody mess and instantly, his blood ran colder than the air itself, his eyes nearly popping out of his head as he finally realized what this could mean.

"_雪ー女._" He gasped while shuddering. It absolutely made sense. This was, indeed, the work of Yuki-onna, the mythical "snow-woman" of Japanese folklore. He remembered that moment weeks ago when he encountered the yōkai while journeying his way through the mountains. She had seduced him toward her, but he soon managed to overcome her advances and she flew into a rage. Granted, he was lucky enough to make it out alive, but as of now, the angry spirit was now after him and his family.

"_光洋!_" He screamed running all over the house, trying to look for his beloved wife and then his children, hoping to the gods that they haven't been taken by the supernatural force haunting them. Finally, he heard a woman whimpering from inside their bedroom and that's where he found his lovely wife lying on the floor. At the very sight of her, the man almost gagged and evenprayed in his might that it wasn't so.

She was laying just beside their bed, with long, open scratches on her arm, bleeding non-stop. She was frostbitten all over and yet, the most gruesome sight of it all, she appeared to be eviscerated by the midsection; her innards such as her stomach, colon and large intestine hanging outside of her body. The poor woman gagged as she coughed up blood, weakly trying to liftherself up with what little strength she had left in her and saw her husband standing there with disgusted horror painted on his face.

"_光洋!_" The man shouted again as he rushed over to her, while knowing in hindsight that it was probably already too late. He dropped down next to her, lifting her up as best he could, cupped her face with gut-wrenching terror stinging his eyes with tears.

"_私と一緒にいなさい、私の愛！ お願いします。 お願いします！ 私にこれをしないでください！_" He pleaded with her, not wanting to lose the most precious thing in his life. He wasn't ready. This was not how it was supposed to end. His wife, with a weakened smile, focused her eyes on him.

"_子供たちは…いなくなった。 彼女は私の前で彼らに...した。 私はできなかった...私は彼女を止めることができなかった。._" Her once-beautiful voice that was like music to his ears was now broken with labored gasps and breaths, still trying to cling to her fading life a little longer. At the news, the man shed tears out of grief, but still clung to the pointless hope that his wife could still make it.

"_私を見て。 私の話を聞いて下さい。 あなたは大丈夫になるでしょう。 これから行くよ-_" He rambled on, trying to remain positive before his dying wife interrupted him.

"_私には遅すぎ、愛です。._" She gagged before leaning her lips to his ear and whispering her final words, "_落ちた目を覚まし、嘆く時間がない._"

And just like that, her body limp and lifeless into his arms. The man let her fall to the floor as he observed her dead body with shocking and horrifying terror. He quivered as his eyes stung with tears as he precious wife's life has been taken from her and him, as well. As his mind played over her last words, he couldn't take it. His children were dead, his wife is dead, the brutality of it all. Ignoring the treacherous cold, the man let out a grieving yell of anguish. He wanted to doubt the situation, believe that this was all just a horrible nightmare, believe that none of this was happening. And yet, it was. But it just can't be.

Suddenly, his moment of grief was disrupted by the sudden gust of snowy wind from the door, blowing at his hair and wafuku robes, jolting him to his feet and turning him right around. As if he had turned to stone, his mouth ran dry, eyes widened as he saw...her. There she hovered over the ground with her pale, grey kimono gown flowing on the wind as well as her long,raven-black hair like a curtain of darkness, her greying pale, veined skin, her fingernails brandishing like sharp talons and her cold, dead eyes staring straight into his soul.

The ghoulish figure that had completely murdered his wife and children stood there in his home. Yuki-onna had destroyed his life, but robbing him of his family. And now he know that he was next. He knew that he wanted revenge on him for rejecting her. All of this bloodshed to break him down psychologically before she went in for the real kill. The man just stood there staring back at the angry spirit, petrified.

"_お願いします。 どこかに行って！ 私をほっといて！_" begged the man, shouting angrily at the monster, not wanting to deal with her anymore. Not after what she had done. His family was gone, so there was nothing left for him to live for. But mentally, he also hoped that the ghoul would just slay him now and be done with it and spare him the pain.

But Yuki-onna did not leave. She only remained in that very spot. Then suddenly, her eyes glowed and her nails grew longer and sharper as an inhuman shriek filled the wintry air, intensifying. The man dared himself to look back at Yuki-onna, which at this point, was the worst thing he could've done, and saw that she then flew right at him with her claws in rapid speed, screaming out loud, looking ready to finish him off for good.

Although he was expecting this, the man stumbled back into the wall, all colors drained from his face, eyes wide as saucers and he opened his mouth as he let out a scream of abject terror and raised his arms in effort to protect himself from her wrath.

* * *

**So there's the first chapter of it. It's being cross-posted from Fictionpad. I'm sorry to all of you getting impatient waiting for my other stories, but this is my decision. Now for the Japanese language, I used Google Translate for this one and feel free to do the same thing if you want to understand what they're saying.**


	2. The Sons of the Yuki-Onna

**_Hakkōda Mountains, Aomori Prefecture, Japan_**  
**_Present Day_**  
**_January 19, 2019_**

Snowflakes dancily fluttered downward onto the Japanese mountainous region of the Hakkōda; cool and crisp as every other winter, coating the ground with a soft, thick blanket of pure white snow and covering the trees of the forest, making them look like tall, shapeless snow sculptures. Now, this lovely scenery wasn't entirely devoid of any life. For in fact, therein lies a secret world beyond our natural plane of existence. A realm beyond the laws of physics. Full of wandering spirits, ghosts, goblins, vampires, monsters of legend and other mythical creatures that roam around in the absence of light and even the presence of evil.

Humans fear what they don't understand, but fear is only of the essence. Some supernatural forces prefer to wreak havoc on the mortals, endanger their lives, cause mischief and the like. But some prefer to say scarce from the humans. But apart from all that, a young boy in a greyish-white kimono outfit roughly around the age of 12 or 13 with short black hair scurried through the snow, having no issue maneuvering his feet through the thick sheet of snow in the ground, leaving tracks behind him. The chilling winter air had no effect on him as he moved around the area, looking for something in particular or someone.

It took him only a minute or two to spot another set of tracks in the snow with feet different from his own and this brought a smirk to his face. I have you now, he thought to himself triumphantly. He knew this would be a dead giveaway to whoever he was after at this moment. The tracks lead him over to one of the snow-covered trees. But this did not dissuade him, for he knew this had to be the perfect hiding spot. Casually, the boy pretended to look uninterested and ready to turn around and leave before he lifted a foot into the air and brought it down extremely hard, so hard that it created quaking seismic activity in the area he was in. The sudden powerful quake caused the snow to fall off not only that one tree, but about nineteen of the other trees within the earthquake's radius. There was a smallerboy hiding in the tree about younger than the first boy adorned in a red kimono, black hair tied into a bun. The vibration caused the boy to fall right out of the tree and onto the ground as he glared at theboy in the greyish attire.

"Thought I'd find you here." He grinned boastfully.

"Damn it, Akami!" grumbled the younger boy in rage, returning to his feet. "I thought we agreed nopowers!"

"I couldn't help myself." Akami remarked. "Also, are you sure you weren't trying to cover your own tracks quite literally?"

"Fuck you!" Hideo cursed in annoyance.

"Hey, language, little bro." said a new, older voice. There stood their older brother, Suko, who had black hair that was also tied into bun, but allowed the rest of his long hair to low downward and had on a wafuku-samurai hybrid with a chestplate-like armor made of sticks and twigs. He wielded two katanas and he was also barefoot.

"I thought we taught you better."

"Don't blame me, blame this guy for cheating." complained Hideo, pointing an accusatory finger at Hideo.

"I played a fair game." Akami remarked cheekily.

"Well, now that two morons are finished, mom wants us back at the cave. The sun's coming up in a minute and she'll freak if we stay out after sunrise." Suko replied, twirling his staff around before taking a massive leap toward the high branch of a tree a few feet from his two younger brothers.

"It's not like we'll burn up like vampires." Akami called out to him in a matter-of-factly.

"Just don't tell her that." Was the final thing Suko said before flying off onto the currents of wind.

Akami and Hideo soon followed afterwards, not wanting their mother to worry about them. But let's talk more about their relation. They only thing they have in common is their mother. They are all born of the same mother, who has had romantic encounters with other men in the past, both mortal and supernatural alike, but she's only had four pregnancies so far. Akami was the second born whose father was a Shinto god and his birth was the result of an unexplained religious ritual.

Hideo is the youngest of the four. His father was a formidable samurai part of the Beetle Clan, given the title of the Beetle Warrior. Their other brother, Yoshi, was born third. There's nothing too serious to be said about his father and how Yoshi was even conceived to begin with. But one thing for certain is that he was a folk hero. Now Suko, on the other hand, was the firstborn and the eldest of all of them. His father is left a mystery and none of them are certain who he was. Their mother won't even speak about it, saying that he wouldn't understand.

It was near morning when the three finally arrived at the cavern high in the mountains where they lived. The light that illuminated the cave inside like a natural lantern was from the campfire which was slowly diminishing. There was their other brother, Toby, sitting there in front of the fire. He had on sometraditional Japanese garb of his own and his black hair was done up an unkempt fashion. He looked up to see his brothers enter the cave.

"There you guys are. Mother was getting worried, you know, and I was running low on excuses." He told them as the three sat with him around the fire.

"Well, that saves you the trouble, doesn't it?" remarked Suko.

"I've been telling her that one of you got caught in a ditch while the other was trying to cut himself free by chewing his leg off and the other-"

"Please! Spare me the details." Akami facepalmed.

"We get it. Mom wouldn't stop asking questions. Sometimes I think she worries too much." replied Hideo.

"And she can hear you from afar." said a gentle, feminine voice from behind them that belonged to their mother who was none other than the spirit (or yōkai) named Yuki-onna, also known as the "snow-woman" according to Japanese folklore. It is said that she is the vengeful spirit of a woman who perished in a blizzard and is often associated with the winter season. As beautiful as she was frightening, her eyes can strike fear into the hearts of mortal men. And despite her inhuman beauty, she has been known to kill off unsuspecting victims.

"It's because you boys are all I have." Yuki-onna explained as she floated over to them, revealing herself from out of the shadows. And there she was in all her serene glory; pale, smooth skin, long raven-black hair that forever flowed on the wind and a greyish-white kimono dress as tattered as it was on the day she passed onto the next world. As the light shined on her approaching form, she was still as ghostly as possible with claw-like fingers and long, sharp nails like the talons of a bald eagle.

"I love you boys too much. I'd know not what to do if anything were to happen to any of you."

"Same as always?" Yoshi answered rhetorically, earning him a glare from his brothers.

"But seriously, nothing bad can actually happen to us out there in the daylight." Suko told his dear mother.

"I'm aware of that. It's just that I don't like being alone." replied Yuki-onna.

"Well, I just wish that wouldn't have to lazing around in some cave our whole lives." replied Hideo. "For once, I'd like to be out there where humans wouldn't have to have a reason to be afraid."

"But the mortals do fear creatures like us and they always will. It's a fact of life." Their mother confirmed a bit strongly to support her opinion.

"Is that why you've slaid humans, mom? Is that why they fear you?" Akami asked his mother. Now this left her silent and deep in thought. Of course, she couldn't deny the truth. She was what she was and that was left unchanged. But it was always never a good subject to discuss with her sons. So shedodges the question and gives Suko a smooch on the forehead.

"Time to rest, boys. You need your strength." She replied as she went around to kiss her other sons good-night before she floated upwards and vanished from sight, leaving a small gust of icy wind in the process. Suko gave Akami a firm stare for bringing such a subject up.

"Good job. Way to end a conversation." He sighed.

"I know it, you know it and she knows it. What's to deny anyway?" shrugged Akami in defense.

"You know how self-conscious she is about that." Hideo chastised, giving him a smack on the arm.

"Then wh-" Akami was about to retort something back when Suko interrupted.

"You heard her, time to rest. We'll discuss this later." After that, he blew some snowy air onto the fire, blowing it out completely with one blow and then all four boys flopped onto the ground to get some shut-eye. Now because they weren't fully human and only part-spirit for the most part, they still needed sleep and food, but air wasn't anything to them. As for Yuki-onna, while it is true that she has slaughtered tons of people _en masse_, she wasn't truly evil as far as her personality goes. It's only a force of habit and she deeply cares for her children no matter what.

* * *

**_Tokyo, Japan_**

The following night in a lower section of the city of Tokyo, a young woman was walking along the sidewalk towards home after stepping off of a bullet train where she found herself in the mostly dead parts of the neighborhood. She had earbuds in, listening to pop music in attempt to distract her mind from the sketchiness of the district she was currently in, but she knew that the place where she lived was about two blocks down the road so won't have to worry.

However, for some slight reason, she kept getting the strangest feeling that she was being followed. The volume was not so high up and even with the music blasting in her ears, she could also hear the soft sound of footsteps coming from behind her. The girl darted around, pausing her music and took one of her earbuds out to look behind her, but there was nobody in sight. Not a single person. The entire block was dead and silent and she was literally the only one out at night.

The girl shrugged this off, deciding that her mind that just fooling with her since it was late and she was the only person out here in this junkyard of a neighborhood. She continued her walk down the block so she can get home and in to bed for the night. She left her music off, though, as she was still somewhat certain she wasn't alone and wanted to be ready for possibly anything.

After a few moments, she heard it again, only a bit more closer this time. She whipped her head around as the footsteps stopped once more and she yet again saw that there was still no one there at all.

"_ええと、こんにちは？_" She called outward to whoever it could be. "_誰かがいますか？_"

No response. It could be anything. Maybe some kid pulling a sick prank on her, trying to get a reaction out of her so he can film her reaction. Maybe it's some creeper attempting to stalk her. Regardless, the girl didn't have the time for this and resumed her walk, now starting to feel on edge at this point. She took her earbuds out and stuffed them into her pocket, not wanting to listen to music anymore.

She tried to distract her mind and calm her nerves down when all the sudden, the footsteps came again. This time, they were running and getting even closer now. The girl didn't turn around and instead, she raced down the sidewalk in terror, trying to evade the supposed assailant or stalker. The unknown person gained on her fast and she needed to find someplace to hide. She hopped over some fence into an alleyway and entered through a door.

The door led into a decrepit old bathroom. She flipped on the light to see that it still worked. Placing a door to her ear, there were no more footsteps or any more sounds. Breathing a sigh, she believed that she had finally shook the maniac and took a moment to relax herself. After all that, she now suddenly had to use the bathroom. After using the toilet and flushing, she approached the sink to wash her hands.

Suddenly, she instantly froze and her throat ran dry when she felt a cold pair of hands gingerly grip her shoulders. Slowly lifting her head up and looking into the mirror, she could almost scream when there stood a strange young woman about three years older than her with long black hair and wearing a surgical mask. The girl jerked right around, wondering who this mysterious woman was. Then she spoke in a loving voice.

"_私はかわいいですか？_" She asked.

Although terrified, but not wanting to offend the stranger, the girl gulped and nodded her head, unableto breathe a word. The woman seemed pleased by the answer, though narrowed her eyes skeptically. That's when she lifted a hand up to remove the mask from her face and the girl screamed, suddenly feeling sick.

The woman's face has a gaping Glasgow smile across her mouth. Her lips sliced open from ear to ear, revealing her bloody teeth and tongue hanging out. The girl tightly held her mouth closed with her hands to prevent herself from both screaming and gagging.

"_私はかわいいですか？_" asked the woman again, her voice now raspy as if she was choking.

Now shaking, overcome with fright, the girl shoved the woman aside as she ran over to the door to make her escape, but somehow the door was locked. The woman rushed over to her, slamming her hands on the door on both sides of the girl, forcing her to face the woman, who asked the same question again with annoyance and eager impatience.

"_私はかわいいですか？_"

"_はい？_" The girl hesitantly answered, hoping to appease this psychotic woman into leaving her alone.

But then, the woman raised her hand into the air to reveal herself clutching a pair of scissors, making the girl let out a blood-curdling scream of terror before the woman brought the scissors down and in a swift motion, she slashed the girl to death, cutting off her scream and splattering her blood all over the walls and the mirror. She repeatedly stabbed at the girl's neck and her face with the scissors before stopping and letting the girl's body drop lifeless to the floor.

And as the woman unceremoniously wiped the blood from the scissor's blades, it should be known that this particular woman was known as Kuchisake-onna, translated into the "slit-mouthed woman", amalevolent figure in Japanese ghost stories as she is the spirit of a woman dating back to the Edo period whose husband was a samurai. After she was caught cheating on him, her husband angrily slashed her face with his katana, giving her the grisly scar she has now. Legend has it that she goes around, bringing unsuspecting victims into a no-win conversation where she asks them if she is beautiful or not. Regardless of the answer, she slaughters them with her scissors.

"Wow. Nice one, mother." said another girl's voice. The stall door creaked open to reveal a young girl with a thick figure and short black hair and mascara. She wore only a tattered old hospital gown with a few blood stains to cover up her nude body. This was Kuchisake-onna's daughter, Yanagizawa Rin.

"I was half expecting her to toughen up. Oh, well." Rin spoke with a sly smirk as she examined the corpse, kneeling down to find her iPod in her pocket.

"She certainly was a pretty one. Almost makes me cry with jealousy." Her mother replied with a teasing voice, now speaking fluent English.

"Well, looks like she won't be winning a beauty pageant any time soon." joked Rin before she and her mother shared a good laugh. Rin held up the iPod, selected a song in the girl's iTunes app and played it as she held one of the earbuds to her ear to take a listen. "Hmm, so she's a fan of J-pop. She _was_, anyway."

Rin turns the iPod off and stores it between her breasts for temporary safekeeping. "A little somethingto remember her by."

Then she and her mother both left the bathroom, leaving the dead girl behind and phased through the fence she scaled earlier when Rin was making those footsteps to terrify her before. After about a few hours of walking through a woodsy landscape, Suko appeared before them, hanging upside down from a branch in a tree high above the ground.

"So how are things? A fresh new kill, I presume?" asked Suko with a knowing smile.

"Wouldn't you know?" Rin smirked, amused. "Of course, my mother did all of the work."

"Pish posh." Kuchisake-onna brushed off innocently.

With a smile, Suko flipped himself off the branch and did a twirl mid-air before landing safely on theground before Rin.

"Was she a runner?" He asked.

"Hell yeah, she was." nodded Rin. "I think she almost pissed on herself as she hauled ass toward that bathroom. Makes a lot of sense."

They both giggled as Suko and Rin both came together into a loving embrace and kissed. As it should be known, these two were obviously lovers to the end. After the kiss, they broke apart and Kuchisake-onna was even smiling cheekily behind her mask, enjoying seeing her daughter having found her one true love.

"So anyway, I came to tell you that me and my brothers received this earlier today." Suko explained, before reaching into his pocket and pulled out a small scroll of ancient paper.

"What is it?" asked Rin, lifting an eyebrow.

"I don't know. It appears to be a letter. A bird flew in and dropped it before us inside of our cave." Suko handed her the scroll and she opened it up to see that it was, of course, written in perfect Japanese.

"It's some kind of note." She said before reading it aloud. "_'Greetings younglings, I am proud to inform you that you've been chosen to join us in our world where beings like you can live out perfect lives and blend in with the humans.'_"

She turned the note over and it now read, "_'For further instructions, burn this note.'_"

Rin and Suko both looked at each other with surprise and perhaps even fascination while Kuchisake-onna seemed a bit shocked and confused.

"'Younglings'?" She recited with bewilderment.

"Rin, go get the others and tell them to meet us back at our cave. This has to be important." Suko ordered.

"I will." She nodded, obeying his command and disappearing into the night with her mother in tow before he lifted himself up into the air along the wind, flying back to the cave while thinking this over. Blend in with the humans? Could this finally be there moment? Either way, whoever sent this note and whatever it could mean, it was just too good to pass up.


	3. New York or Bust

Once in their cave, Suko had brought his brothers together as well as their mother for this important ordeal. Rin had invited their friends from around the country that consisted of Jun, who was a blue kitsune with nine tails, supposedly being the wisest creature, even though he's merely a child at heart. Himiko is a spider-like monster with the top half of a human and six eyes called a _jorōgumo_ who likes to weave and knit using her own silk. And then there's Tsunoi Tokugawa who is an _oni_, a green-skinned ogre/demon-type monster who once hailed from Yamatai-koku, formerly one of the warriors defending the ancient tomb of the shaman-queen, Himiko.

The only one who wasn't present at the moment due to his massive size was a _kaiju_ named Zraga. He sleeps underwater outside the shores of Japan in the Pacific Ocean. Suko took out the note and placed it onto the burning campfire. The note singed and evaporated into smoke and ash and as everyone watched, the smoke from which that note came from, it formed a shapeless cloud with who glowing dots for eyes.

And then it spoke in an echoing voice, "_Younglings, come join us in our secret realm where creatures like you can live happily away from the humans. Find the human location known as New York City in America. The entrance to the realm can be found in the shadows underneath the arches of Central Park. But do not linger for long, the entrance will only open at night and will remain open come the dawn. Good luck to you._"

Once the message has been delivered, the being in the smoke vanished into nothing. Everyone was speechless and gave each other surprised looks. Now this was a shock indeed. This unknown force sends them a message inviting them to this mystical world where they can live free from an any humans. But the question was if they were going to agree to these terms and conditions. America was on the other side the Pacific Ocean away from Japan and this New York City place could be anywhere. They had heard of the place, but never knew where it could be.

"What could this mean?" asked Akami.

"This sounds amazing!" chirped Himiko excitedly.

"It does sound nice to get away from it all." Tsunoi acknowledged with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I don't know about this." sighed Suko, rubbing his hair. "New York City? It's a long ways away. We don't even know where it is."

"Zraga may help." Jun suggested, after licking himself. "For all we know, the guy has been all over the ocean in various places. Maybe he'll know."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Suko replied, still feeling doubtful.

"What are you saying?" Rin asked, looking at her boyfriend.

"This city is a pretty huge place, as I'm told. Tons of people all over it, maybe more." explained Suko.

"Perhaps the humans won't care that much." Hideo spoke up in defense.

"They may notice you, you and maybe you..." noted Suko as he pointed at Kimiko, Tsunoi and Jun, respectively. "I mean, what are the chances, really?"

"You heard the note, bro." Yoshi countered, putting a hand on his older brother's shoulder. "We'll be living in this realm hidden inside of the city. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to see need things while we're there. Besides, it may as well be better than living inside of this empty cave high in the mountains all our lives."

"It is getting kind of boring here." Akami nodded in agreement.

"Are you boys certain of this decision?" asked Yuki-onna, who was also having a tense feeling about departing from the comfort of their cave to move into a giant, populated city in America full of humans.

"Well, face it." Rin spoke up. "I think it's high time that we all had a change of scenery. Don't you think?"

"We might make some friends." Himiko replied, giddily.

"I hear the food there is tremendous." exclaimed Tsunoi. "This diet of wild boars is starting to get to my hips."

"Think about it." Hideo said as he stood up and got behind his brothers, bringing them together in an unneeded embrace. "All of us together in the big city, doing who knows what, lots of sights to see, I can already tell it'll be fun. I'm already up for it. What about you, bros?"

While there others were sharing some excited nods, Akami, Yoshi and Suko where still thinking it over. Yes, New York City is a very large city full of people and who knows where this Central Park may be in that city. And they've lived in the same high in the mountains for the entirety of their lives, safe from the humans, but only because the humans were afraid of them. But it wasn't the Edo period anymore and is long behind them at this point, but there are still humans are there that fear the worst.

Of course, living in a cave can be tiring and chances are that it can get really tedious when they areliving in world of technology, cars and other new trends life can offer nowadays. Perhaps it wasn't too bad. After all, New York was a most popular place, according to the humans. What did they have to lose?

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. This does look like a nice wake-up call." Suko finally decided. "Plus, we really need to get out of this cave."

"Alright!" Hideo cheered.

"This is gonna be a blast!" Kimiko clapped her hands.

"You boys are bringing me along with you, right?" Yuki-onna asked strictly, lifting an eyebrow.

"Of course, we are." Akami replied. "We would be lost without you."

"Good." Yuki-onna said, giving a smile.

The next day, everyone prepared themselves for the long trip ahead of them. They journeyed across Japan to the east side of the island to find some sort of transport. Naturally, they had to keep out of sight from the humans in order to get there. It was a long hike from the cave in the Hakkōda all the way to the seaside. Tsunoi had to carry Jun on his shoulders, after he got too tired to walk any further. Finally they happened upon a loading dock with fishing ships porting and ready for departure.

Suko overheard the longshoremen shouting and speaking aloud, but he was finally able to hear which ship that was headed for New York City. Everyone had to sneak their way past the humans before they made to the exact fishing trawler they were looking for. They hoped into the ship without anyone seeing them and found their way into the vessel's cargo hold, which they will remain until they've reached their destination. Of course, it was going to be a long trip.

Suko peered out of one of the ship's portholes to see a giant mass from under the water in the distance. He smiled, knowing it had to be Zraga. He was going to travel underwater, since he was too big to fit on the ship. Finally after what felt like hours, the ship's whistle blew and began to depart the dock and set sail upon the Pacific, toward its destination. Everyone sat back as they tried to getcomfortable in the cargo hold as best they could. Three hours had gone by and nightfall had arisen over the ocean and Tsunoi was beginning to feel hungry as his stomach growled.

"Where the hell you going?" demanded Rin once she witnessed Tsunoi starting for the door.

"I'm wasting away. I need some food. I'm gonna see if they have any eats on this giant tub." He was only able to crack open the door just a tiny bit before Suko slammed it shut on him before he could foolishly go any further.

"You want to caught?" He warned him.

"Pfft. We have no trouble getting on this boat. They're not gonna see me. Besides, I've gotten over the fish I've been eating over there." Tsunoi remarked as he gestured to one of the open crates that originally contained some fresh catch.

"Fine. But stay out of sight." Suko ordered him sharply.

"I got it. I got it." replied Tsunoi as he quietly left through the door.

"If he gets himself caught out there, he's gonna be all damn kinds of sorry. And I'm not going to save his ass." exclaimed Rin with irritation in her voice.

Long story short, there were wasn't very enough food that Tsunoi could've found any where on the vessel to speak of. Thankfully, he was able to get around the ship without any of the crew seeing him. When the search turned into a wild goose chase for Tsunoi, he settled on a crew member's lunch box. All that was in it was a sandwich, an apple and some coffee. It would have to do for now.

* * *

**_Manhattan, New York City, New York_  
_January 26, 2019_  
**

Suko and the rest were awakened by the ship's whistle and he maneuvered over to the porthole to see that they were passing the Statue of Liberty. The giant statue of a woman stood proudly in all her glory as if welcoming the vessel. Then everyone approached other portholes to get a good look outside andstared on with awe and amazement. There it was, the big city itself and all the buildings and such. The place was indeed huge. There was the Empire State Building, its windows gleaming from the morning sun.

"Wow. It's better than the postcard." Hideo gasped as marveled such a brilliant sight. Everyone has gone a long way from their home in the mountainous region in Japan to come all this way to the Big Apple. This was just part of what they'll see later on, though as there was still plenty of the city to go around. For once, Yuki-onna and Kuchisake-onna felt like they could belong in a giant place like this. It's like they belonged there. A feeling that they've neglected for years.

Once the ship had ported along the loading dock in the Hudson River, everyone had to again sneak their way past the humans unseen. And once off the ship finally after spending weeks upon it for so long, they got their first real view of the city in person. It was certainly massive to say the least. Of course, they were hiding behind some cargo in order to accomplish this feat.

"Gosh, it's so big and yet, so wondrous." Yuki-onna exclaimed, looking all around at the collection of buildings and skyscrapers.

"So where did they say to go again?" asked Akami.

"They said Central Park. Not sure where that is." Suko answered, scratching his head in confusion.

"But this city is so big. Where the hell do we even start?" asked Kimiko in distress.

"A better question would be 'How do we even get around the humans'?" asked Tsunoi.

That's when the brothers noticed some rags and sheets on the ground and decided to use that fornow. Tsunoi, Kimiko and Jun had to wear the sheets around them to disguise their appearance from the humans. Well, they still received some strange glances from the onlookers. Suko and the gang marched up and down this city from one crowded street to another, from Battery Park to Broadway, the city seemed to go on and on for miles. Akami was reading from a book on the city that he curiously picked up.

"_'New York City is known by many names such as 'the Big Apple' and 'the city that never sleeps'._" He read out loud. "_'In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability and as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity__. The New York Yankees have been renamed twice from the New York Highlanders and the Baltimore Orioles.'_"

"The hell you doing?" asked Suko.

"Just dabbling in some personal info in case we get a chance to sightsee." Akami replied.

"We need to focus on finding this realm. Central Park's around here somewhere." Suko reminded him.

"Alright. But you'll be missing out on the new dinosaur exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History or even trying out some delicacies in Chinatown. I've always wanted to try out some of those potstickers."

"Let's just find this realm and we'll check out some stuff later, okay. Now I think we-" Suko looked to see Tsunoi gone. Darting his head in all directions, he sighed when he saw that he was starting a giant inflatable rat dressed as a blonde-haired man with tanned skin and a dark blue business suit. Suko quickly grabbed him, bringing him back to reality.

"Sorry about that. You could get easily lost in a place like this." said Tsunoi.

Finally after a few more hours of searching, everyone decided to find a place to chill out for a moment. They sat down on some benches to catch their breath, rest their weary feet and try to gain their bearings.

"So what, uh...did they say? They said that it opens at night, correct?" Yoshi asked everyone.

"Yeah. So if we do find this Central Park, we'd have to wait until it gets dark out." Suko spoke, leaning his head back in exhaustion.

"Well, we still have time. I hear they have some killer shopping centers here." Kimiko suggested, hoping to get a little culture out of the city.

"And have humans asking questions about a giant spider thing running around the store? Fine. Go on with your bad self." Akami sarcastically grumbled.

"Hmph!" pouted Kimiko with her hands to her hips in annoyance.

"We got to ask somebody for directions. Anybody." Jun replied, scratching himself.

With no other alternative, the group scatters in the hopes of finding someone to help them find where they are trying to get to. To be fair, most of the people of this city tend to be less than welcoming. Some are rude, either calling them inappropriate names or telling them to piss off, some are in too big of a hurry to get somewhere to even notice them, while there are some foreigners -immigrants, if you will - that are still having trouble speaking the English language.

"Excuse me, but I-" Akami tried his best to ask some people passing by, but none of them even acknowledged him. "I beg your pardon...If I could just...have a moment of your...time."

Then suddenly, he came across a young, teenage girl with short, blonde hair with a pink barrette and blue eyes and black mascara. She wore a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a skirt with Mary Janes. Akami stared back into here eyes, her cerulean oceans; never has he seen a beauty before. It's almost too good to be...

"C-Can I help you, sir?" asked the girl nervously.

"I'm sorry." He shook himself back to reality to focus on his question. "Me and my pals are looking for Central Park? Do you know where that is?"

"Central Park, you said?" The girl asked, hoping she heard him right.

"Well, if you could that the subway over there, it should help get the Central Park in a flash by train. I wouldn't take a cab, though. You never know if you might get caught in traffic." The girl instructed, pointing towards the entrance to the subway on the other side of the street before she got a good look at his attire, something she's not familiar with.

"You're not from here are you?" asked the girl matter-of-factly.

"What gave me away?" Akami asked with a shrug. "Well, anyway. Thanks. Bye now."

After he took off, the girl keep her gaze on him as he darted down the street to look for his brothers and friends. Even though they had just met seconds ago, the girl found something intriguing about him. Not just his outfit, but there was something off-putting about him.

"Kim, come on. We're going to be late." One of the girl's friends said, dragging her along.

Akami rejoined his mother and brothers as well as their friends. Some of whom were curiously getting into the culture of the city. Tsunoi was already dining on this new dish called pizza and found it quite enjoyable. Kimiko was too distracted by the mannequins in store windows adorning fabulous dresses. Jun was observing a blind old guy sitting on a bench, eyeing him a bit too closely before Hideo had to pick him up and carry him away.

Once they made way to the subway, everyone found themselves going underground into a network full of trains that go all around the city underneath the surface. Naturally they had no certain way of properly getting through the ticketing gate or knowing how it works, so they had to either squeeze or crawl their way through the hard way. Of course, this caught some attention from some residents around them, but the guy behind the booth was too distracted by music to even notice. There was a limited about of people down by the tracks, despite being a busy city today, so thankfully, there wasn't enough humans to see them and wonder what they were.

"So we just sit here and wait for...a train to arrive?" asked Yuki-onna, sitting down to rest her feet.

"That's what the woman said, yes." Akami confirmed with confidence.

"And they say this is fastest way to get to the park?" asked Suko, having a slightly unconvinced feeling about this as she sat down next to his mother.

"Let's just hope so." Yoshi retorted.

"I'm hoping the hardest." exhaled a disgruntled Tsunoi as he just slumped onto the ground, completely exhausted, while Kimiko clasped her hands on his shoulders. "This city is so fucking huge, my feet are getting tired of carrying all over the place."

"You exhaust yourself too much, jelly belly." nagged Yoshi. "Two minutes in, you're healthy as a horse. An hour later, you're sitting on your ass, not a care in the world."

"Shut up, I was just listening to this song in my head." The giant brute grunted.

Some music turned Yuki-onna and Suko's attention toward a band of street performers panhandling a few feet from them. Yuki-onna scooted closer to her son, a bit turned-off and uncomfortable by the scene. Never had she ever seen people performing with instruments like that before, much less out in public. Than suddenly a man in a dark blue business suit noticed her and got a good look at her and the brothers. Hopefully, this random stranger wouldn't get creeped out by them at all, let alone try to draw any unwanted attention to them.

"Hey, uh, you all come back from the comic con?" He asked them.

"What is this "com-ee" con you speak of?" asked Yuki-onna, unfamiliar with the term and, of course, this earned a confused stare from the man.

"I'm sorry, we're new here." Suko explained as best he could, hoping not to seem suspicious in any way.

The man huffed in confusion, but decided it wasn't worth explaining and when back to waiting for his train. Speaking of which, everyone heard the rumble of a train fast approaching from the tunnel on their end. All brothers both darted over and peered down one end of the tunnel to see if it was really coming. It was dark down the tunnel, but it turned out they were looking in the wrong direction and the loud whistle of the approaching train blared, getting their attention at the last minute, giving them the chance to move out of the way before it hit them.

The second the doors opened, everyone immediately crammed themselves inside before passengers aboard the car could have a chance to get off themselves. But, thankfully, they were aboard the train and should be able to get to Central Park in no time. More passengers boarded the train with them, making it more crowded once the train took off down the tunnel system. Most of the gang was having trouble moving around and there was a bunch of people talking on their phones, reading the paper and so on. Suko almost felt claustrophobic from being crammed into such a tight space full of humans and wondered if this is how things usually were in the Big Apple.

About a few more minutes had gone by before a woman's voice over the speakers said 'Columbus Circle'. That was their cue to get off finally. It may have been proven easier said than done, since it was a large city after all and because the subway was crowded of civilians, there were more people wanted to get on the train than those getting off it, but it was less of an issue for the spirits there. Once off the train, they marched up the steps to find a map somewhere. Kimiko and Hideo couldn't help but catch a glimpse at all the advertisements on the walls. How perplexing, they thought.

Finally there was a map by the ticket booth of the transit. Suko looked around to see that they were right near the park. Everyone found the way out of the subway through some underground stores and up an escalator, which was like moving stairs. There they were at Central Park. And there was a magnificently large statue sitting there, which they passed by into the bowels of the park. The brothers caught sight of people in carriages drawn by horses.

"So we have to find an arch in this park." Suko replied as he looked all around.

"There's plenty of arches around here. We should just pick one?" asked Kimiko.

"They said it opened at night." Kuchisake-onna replied took up at the sky, seeing it was late in the afternoon and closer to sundown. "And it's almost nighttime. We still got a few more hours left."

And so they waited in the park for nighttime to come. Suko sat on the bench with Rin as they both basked in the city's glory from inside Central Park. The others had gone to find some food to eat while they waited. Yuki-onna and Kuchisake-onna had to refrain from killing anyone so not to draw any attention or cause a panic within the vicinity. The two watched Jun playing around with some dogs in Sheep Meadow. Rin giggled a bit as she found it cute that Jun was making a few new friends. Dog usually chase after foxes, but everyone knew that Jun was no ordinary fox. Hideo, Akami and Yoshi sat on the Hernshead by the lake, having their own scenic view of the buildings. Then Tsunoi and Kimiko returned with some chili dogs and a couple churros.

"Guys, they got so much food around here." Tsunoi cried in delight as he crammed a chili dog into his mouth.

"Where you two get those?" asked Rin.

"These people were just giving them out on the streets." Kimiko replied, taking a bite of a churro.

Rin shook her head with an amused smile, having a good feeling that they brought grabbed them without paying for them. Few more hours had gone by and it was nearing dusk. Everyone got back together and waited until it was completely dark before they searched for the nearest arch. Walking underneath it, it was dark as it could be that you'd have to use a flashlight in order to see.

"So where it is?" asked Jun, looking around. "This gateway?"

"I just has to be-" Suko said as he placed a hand on the wall before realizing there wasn't a wall there anymore. Nothing but darkness there. As everyone watched, there was this otherworldly blue, misty glow that revealed a cavernous tunnel with a flight of stairs leading down into the darkness. Carefully, they all trudged down the steps and disappeared into the pitch black tunnel, awaiting to see where it took them.


End file.
